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Schooling, politics and the construction of identity in Hong Kong: the 2012 'Moral and National Education' crisis in historical context

Morris, P; Vickers, E; (2015) Schooling, politics and the construction of identity in Hong Kong: the 2012 'Moral and National Education' crisis in historical context. Comparative Education , 51 (3) pp. 305-326. 10.1080/03050068.2015.1033169. Green open access

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Abstract

Since Hong Kong's retrocession, the government has endeavoured to strengthen local citizens' identification with the People's Republic of China – a project that acquired new impetus with the 2010 decision to introduce ‘Moral and National Education’ (MNE) as a compulsory school subject. In the face of strong local opposition, this policy was withdrawn in 2012, and implementation of MNE made optional. This article seeks to elucidate the background to the MNE controversy of 2012 by locating the emergence of a distinctive Hong Kong identity in its historical context, and analysing successive official attempts (before and after the 1997 retrocession) to use schooling for purposes of political socialisation. We argue that the school curriculum has projected and reflected a dual sense of identity: a ‘Chineseness’ located mainly in ethno-cultural qualities, and a ‘Hongkongeseness’ rooted in civic attributes. While reinforced by schooling, local civic consciousness has been intimately related to a tradition of public activism strongly evident since the 1970s, and further strengthened post-1997.

Type: Article
Title: Schooling, politics and the construction of identity in Hong Kong: the 2012 'Moral and National Education' crisis in historical context
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/03050068.2015.1033169
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2015.1033169
Language: English
Additional information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Comparative Education on 13 May 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03050068.2015.1033169.
Keywords: Social Sciences, Education & Educational Research, future, Taiwan, reform, state
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1488620
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